Playbook moves
Each playbook comes with a few GM moves, catered to that playbook’s specific issues and elements. Whenever the GM could use a move, they can also use a playbook move against a character of that playbook. Beacon * Draw attention to their inadequacies * Praise their best traits * Make them pay for their audacity * Compare them to the others * Play to their drives The Beacon is about being the “straight man” to everybody else’s crazy, over the-top superhero. They’re normal, through and through, and there’s a strong argument to be made they shouldn’t be with this team—and it’s your job, as GM, to make that argument. Put pressure on the Beacon to prove why they belong. Doubt them. Make them insecure. And then give them chances to shine, doing whatever it is they do best. Pay attention to the Beacon’s drives— those tell you what the Beacon is hoping to do, and you should try your best to help the Beacon mark them oﬀ, at least one per session. Bull * Endanger their love * Bolster their rival * Reveal dark secrets of their past * Attack with someone just like them * Swarm with mundane forces The Bull is hyper focused on their love and rival, by default. Go with that. Play up those relationships. Make their love endangered, and their rival bolstered, to give them chances to react. Sometimes, ﬂip it to keep things interesting—endanger their rival and bolster their love (maybe with a competing love interest). The Bull comes from some dark past, some weapons program, something that made them so destructive. Bring that up, and don’t ever let them totally forget what they are, especially by using villains and other enemies just like them, or by swarming them with mundane forces to watch them prove what a weapon they are when they overcome. Delinquent * Put them in chains * Give or take an audience * Give them conditional love * Show them the line * Oﬀer a helping hand The Delinquent is likely to be a rebel without a cause as well as a performer looking for an audience. They’re cynical and sarcastic, yet desirous of honest, naïvely positive relationships. Play to all sides of their character. Restrict them with rules so they can break free, but also oﬀer them support and help tie them up with relationships too. Sometimes, put them in front of an audience of watchers who love their antics; other times, take away that audience and leave them cold and alone. Give them love, but only by attaching a price to it, and never let them forget that there are powers above them setting the rules and boundaries. Doomed * Mark their doom track * Oﬀer a chance to further their cause * Remind them of what they could lose * Push them to the brink * Oﬀer temporary relief with a cost The Doomed is fatalistic and grim. Adding a Doomed to your game inherently puts death on the table, and makes your entire game a bit darker. Don’t ever let them forget that they’re doomed. Have other characters reference it, add bits of description about it to the fiction, and make them mark their doom track. Show them the best of the people around them, people who care about them—make them want to stay here in this world. All the while, edge the Doomed closer and closer to the brink, hitting them hard, so they have to resort to their doomsigns and other resources for victory. Try to remember their conditions for advancing their doom track, so you can make moves toward those. For the doomsign Infnite Powers, make sure they know they can take an ability from another playbook for a one-time action—not a move from another playbook. Talk to them to make sure you have a joint understanding of what the triggers that advance their doom track look like. And don’t worry about giving them a final confrontation with their doom. If it makes sense in the fiction, give them the opportunity to overcome it, but they’ll have to contend with their doom, one way or another, thanks to their advances. Janus * Bring their obligations to bear * Endanger someone from either life * Make their lives cross over * Put more obligations on them * Take away their mask The Janus is about the double life, the nature of having two identities. Push them on it. You’re in charge of saying when time passes, so you’re in charge of saying when the Janus has to roll for their social obligations—don’t skimp on it. Continually ask them which life they’re in. If someone doesn’t know the identity they’re currently in, ask the Janus if the Inﬂuence they hold over that person would really apply. Make both lives tough. Their superheroic life is obviously difficult, because the team as a whole will be mixed up in crazy drama. But they need specific pushing from their mundane life and the obligations therein. Have those in their mundane life lay obligations upon them. Put the people in their mundane life in danger as much as those in their superheroic life. Give the people in their mundane life opinions on the people in their superheroic life, then make them all interact. And when they’re at the mercy of dangerous foes, or the situation warrants... unmask them. Legacy * Remind them of their traditions * Compare them to the past * Make them answer their family’s concerns * Raise expectations on them * Honor them The Legacy is caught up in a tradition of heroism, and having one at your table makes family important. Every PC will be compared to the older generation to some extent, but the Legacy has direct predecessors, alongside rules and traditions they’ve sworn to uphold. Make those prior heroes matter more by talking about them often and having them show up at the worst possible times. Keep pushing on them what their legacy means, but don’t hesitate to diversify that meaning—what it means to prior members of the legacy may not be the same as what it means to the public, and they’ll all expect diﬀerent traditions to be upheld. Constantly compare the Legacy to their predecessors, and use the comparisons to shift the Legacy’s Labels. Give them further duties, obligations, and missions directly from their own legacy; if their legacy has famous enemies, then catching or defeating those foes is a great additional burden to saddle them with. Sometimes, sit them down for a talk with members of their legacy to discuss their recent performance—and don’t let them oﬀ the hook. Remember that you’re ultimately responsible for making the move for the legacy trigger, to see how members of the legacy respond to the PC’s recent actions; don’t let that slide for too long. Nova * Remind them of past collateral damage * Reveal a terrible truth of their powers * Make their powers ﬂare out of control * Stoke their conditions * Introduce threats only they can tackle The Nova is pure power, and they’re likely to think they can handle nearly any threat—what’s more, they’re probably right. But they can’t do it without paying a high price, and that price drives the playbook. Having a Nova at your table should amp up the power level of the threats and dangers the heroes deal with—the Nova plays for high stakes, and they’ve made the mistakes to prove it. Never let the Nova forget the past damage they’ve caused. Have people hold grudges or explain why they’re worried about the Nova’s self-control. Sometimes, cause the Nova’s powers to ﬂare out of control, to lash out and cause further damage. The Nova’s heavily tied up in their own head—play with that. Show them that their powers are truly dangerous, or come from an insidious source, or have an inherent cost, and let them deal with that terrible truth. Play to their conditions, their anger or their fear or their insecurity, and harp on them, while giving them opportunities to take action to clear those conditions. Outsider * Draw attention to their diﬀerences * Make a request from home * Introduce a monitor from home * Accept and support them in their moments of weakness * Provoke their beliefs and practices in tense situations The Outsider is a stranger who’s interested in fitting in. Don’t ever let them forget the struggle. Call out how they look, act, and think diﬀerently, especially using NPCs with Inﬂuence over the Outsider to shift their Labels. Give them a reason to stay—show them the best parts of Earth, and accept them when they’re low. But provoke and prod at their beliefs, make them decide if they really want to commit to this strange place. And never let them totally forget their home. Even if they don’t think they have direct contact to their home, send them missives from where they come from, making myriad requests, everything from “Collect this” to “Come home!” Introduce characters from their home who come to Earth for at least some time, who watch the PC and judge them. Having an Outsider at your table means you should introduce other aliens and cultures. Play up other outsider groups. Make Halcyon City, and the universe, full of strange, wonderful, and terrible people. Protege * Convey their mistakes * Bestow wisdom, wanted or unwanted * Hold up a mirror to them * Give them exactly what they need at a cost * Endanger their mentor The Protégé is about their relationship with their mentor—so you have to make that mentor show up a lot. The Protégé also makes past generations of heroism matter far more than many playbooks, so be prepared to introduce those older heroes if you’ve got a Protégé in play. But focus on the mentor— chances are good that the mentor will have opinions of everyone on the team, not just the Protégé. The mentor is here to teach the Protégé, so they should always be telling the Protégé what the PC has done wrong, and providing new advice and knowledge. They don’t have to be mean about it, but inherently just pointing out the Protégé’s mistakes should drive them up the wall a bit. The mentor can provide the team with great resources and information, too—but always at a price, most often that the team follow the mentor’s rules or suﬀer through another lesson. Make the mentor awesome, too—make them someone the Protégé might genuinely want to be. And then show them the costs of the life that the mentor leads, so the Protégé can see what they’re becoming. Show a mirror to the Protégé, and ask them if they really want to be this person, or someone diﬀerent. And sometimes, put their mentor in danger, with the only salvation coming from the Protégé themselves. Give the Protégé the chance to show their mentor everything they’ve learned. Transformed * Reject them * Show how they are feared or hated * Attack them with unthinking hordes * Remind them of what they’ve lost * See their true self The Transformed looks diﬀerent, can’t hide it, and feels insecure about it. They bring into play issues of being diﬀerent and wanting to ft in, but from a diﬀerent perspective to the Outsider. The Outsider might be able to teach Earth something—there might be a compromise. The Transformed, though, used to be normal…and never will be again. The Transformed won’t find compromise with those around them. The best they can hope for is acceptance. Reject the Transformed and show the negative reactions their form provokes. People fear and hate them for how they look, and their struggle is about overcoming those perspectives; so provide plenty of rejection. Attack them with unthinking hordes, especially from a “villagers with pitchforks” perspective. Show them the things they’ve lost and can’t do anymore. Sometimes, though, give them a reprieve. Don’t do it too often, but have NPCs see through their visage to the real person beneath. Sympathize with their pain and support them. It will make the next rejection all the more painful. Category:The GM